Multiple Pets Reported Stolen Recently In Dallas' Uptown Neighborhood

DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - Residents in Dallas' Uptown neighborhood have reported multiple pet thefts recently and say home surveillance video shows them being taken from people's property.

"We have a cat here that I've been taking care of for 10 years," Jennifer Styers said.

To Styers, Deidre, is family.

About two weeks ago she went missing.

Home surveillance video captured what happened.

"Two homeless people came and were collecting trash on the driveway," she said.

She explains one person picked up Deidre, put her in a trash can and walked away.

"It's heartbreaking," she said. "It felt like a death. We were beside ourselves."

She filed a police report and shared what happened online.

"We went on Nextdoor and we realize that there are a lot of pets that are missing and we don't know why they're going missing," SPCA volunteer Rebecca Todd said. "Some people have video of them actually being picked up by homeless people and carried off, we never knew that this was a thing."

As a volunteer with the SPCA, Styers wonders if pet flipping, where a pet is taken from its owner and sold online, is involved.

Luckily, she says Dierdre is now safe at home but does have health problems as a result of not being properly cared for.

"Somebody on Nextdoor found her a couple miles east of Dallas," she said.

She's now nursing her back to health. She offers this advice to pet owners:

"Do not leave it unattended even if it's in your front gated yard," she said. "When their pet goes missing, they have to file a police report because that's one thing we found is that people aren't filing a police report."